Boffins boot up shoe database

British scientists have scored another first in the battle to beat international crime, launching a database of shoe types.

The UK’s Forensic Science Service’s Footwear Intelligence Tool will bring the same sort of techniques used in analysing DNA found at the scene of a crime to identifying the footprints at a scene of a crime, Reuters reports. Sort of CSI meets a load of cobblers, if you will.

The database goes live on February 15, and will apparently be updated daily, as information comes in from shoe makers and crime scenes.

The boffins already have 1,000 distinguishing marks for Nike’s range of training shoes alone. No doubt other favoured criminal footwear will be detailed in time, such as the winkelpicker, the sharpened stiletto, and of course, that old favourite, the concrete boot.®